underground river - clearwater cave - mulu (borneo)

After scrambling down another long and steep squeeze, we reach the beautiful Clearwater underground river in Mulu (Borneo)

This is one of the largest underground river in the world.­ This photo is a 30 sec long exposure at ISO 3200.­ Unfortunately the rock on the bottom-right got over-exposed (burnt highlight).­

We walked one Km or so downstream along this river, to reach the cave mouth. We had to cross it several times, usually knee deep, sometimes waist deep.­ The water is crystal clear. We often had to walk on narrow ledges or slippery rock slopes on the river banks.­ The biggest danger is to fall on some of the sharp rocks that are half submerged in the river.­

Photo taken in the Clearwater cave system in Gunung Mulu National Park (Borneo)

The Clearwater System is believed to be the largest interconnected cave system in the world by volume and the 9th longest cave in the world at 189 Km (as of 2011).­ For more photos, information and cave map, view my Clearwater cave photo series.